How to Replace a Tool's Wooden Handle

If you're holding on to rusted old farm tools that belonged to your grandfather, you can get them fixed up. Here's how.

I have some old farming tools that have been in my family for years, and I want to restore them. Most need wood handles that I can't find for sale anywhere. Please help.

It's tremendously satisfying to put a tool back in working order, especially one that connects you with your ancestors.

I've done the job many times, and I always start by contacting the House Handle Company (househandle.com). The 70-year-old family business in Cassville, Mo. (pop. 2185), makes handles of white oak, ash, and hickory for hammers, axes, wheelbarrows, picks, and hoesas well as for some very obscure tools. I've worked with tools all of my adult life and have written about them for this magazine for 25 years, yet House makes handles for ones I've never heard of.

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The first step in replacing a handle on an agricultural tool is pretty straightforwardyou just knock off the head and the ferrule (the metal sleeve on the handle's end) with a hammer. If the head is secured by rivets, grind off their heads, and drive out the shanks using a pin punch and a ball-peen hammer. Alternatively, you can drill out a rivet: Place a center punch on the head, whack the punch with a hammer, and drill on the center mark. If the head doesn't come off and ride up the drill bit, shear off what remains with a sharp cold chisel.

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Now you can connect the toolhead to the new handle. It's important to get the proper grain direction for handles on shovels, forks, hoes, and rakes (see the drawing at left). Next, drive the handle into the tang (the long metal tab) at the end of the head.

Seth Smoot

To rivet on a new handle, drill through the handle, guided by the old rivet holes. Insert the rivets, place the socket on a firm surface, such as a block of 4 x 4 lumber, and dome the rivet head with a ball-peen hammer.

Finally, clean off any rust on the toolhead using coarse sandpaper and a wire brush. Sharpen any dull cutting surfaces with a 10-inch Home and Garden file (coopertools.com). Shoot a thin film of spray lubricant onto the toolhead, and you're ready to go to work.